Musicality, resolution and realistic timbre to instruments seems to be the overarching focus of the engineering behind the proprietary FPGA-based digital decoding (with no digital filtering) and the discrete R2R ladder DAC design the newly-upgraded S3 now sports.

We’ve all been in that awkward situation. You know the one. Where you’re chilling with your audiophile friends listening to tunes and the (1,015,808 WTA) tap comes on your shoulder (bad joke) followed by the inevitable question of “what resolution are you listening at bro?”

While I’m unsure how many CD enthusiasts have lobbied Naim for the return of the CD 555, the company knows a great-looking design when they make one and have kept those iconic CD 555 lines for their latest 500-series product: the ND 555 Network Player, which was previewed back in April overseas along with the NDX 2 and ND5 XS 2 players.

Kicked back on a sofa with your feet up on an old steamer trunk and your laptop open for writing as acoustic instrument digital-manipulator and avant-garde trumpeter Jon Hassell blows long and calm at you from between loudspeakers is a pretty good zone to find oneself in.